Monetized Dreams
by Realitycheckwriter
Summary: A young woman dreams of a scavenger's adventure and compares it to her own life. Reylo if you squint and tilt your head. Modern day AU, no Star Wars characters actually used.


_Rey looked at the twin suns of Tatooine as she pondered the question the old woman had asked her. It was simple enough: Who was she?_

_ Was she the granddaughter of an evil man? Yes, but she did not have to be evil._

_ Was she the last of the Jedi? Yes and no. She had their teachings, but she didn't have to go down their path._

_ In the end, it really wasn't a valid question. It was more a question of what she chose to be._

_ "Rey. Rey Skywalker," she responded..._

* * *

"Rey. Rey Skywalker," she mumbled sleepily. "Yeah..."

The bed shifted. "Whuzzat? Rey who?" a sleepy male voice asked.

"Skywalker," she repeated. "Rey Skywalker."

He sighed. "Write it down before you forget, okay?"

She opened her eyes. She was in the same bedroom, same boyfriend (nothing wrong with that) and the same...everything. She was just ordinary Raye with an ordinary life.

She snuggled closer as he kissed her on the top of her head. Ben was always so thoughtful. True, he'd been a bit of a rebel when they'd first met, but she'd knocked some sense into him. Okay, she and his entire family had knocked some sense into him.

"I should make breakfast," she offered, grabbing a notepad from the nightstand.

"I got it, don't worry," he mumbled as he got out of bed. "Just keep on writing."

* * *

"This is the third Star Wars-related dream you've had in as many weeks," he pointed out over breakfast. "I can't say that it's a really great story."

"Why not?" Raye asked.

He paged through what Raye had written and frowned. "Well, it's all pretty out there, you know?"

"It **is **Star Wars," Raye reminded him, taking a sip of coffee. "It's **supposed** to be `out there.'"

"I mean, some of it could be good," Ben admitted. "But your second week's dream pretty much wrecked everything."

"How so?"

"Okay, the stormtrooper's redemption is a good hook. Everybody's always assumed that they're brainwashed or something," Ben said. "But then he gets turned into this comedian who keeps getting hit with all this crap. It's like he's a joke. And then in your third dream…"

"What?" She took a bite of her pancakes. Ben made heavenly pancakes. "What about my third dream?"

"It's like we're just given a name and a scenario, then we go treasure hunting," Ben said.

"And what about Rey?"

Ben rubbed the bridge of his nose. That was a bad sign. He only did that when he wanted to break some bad news to her.

"Raye, do you know what a Mary Sue is?"

She shook her head. "It sounds kind of insulting."

"It's not a compliment," Ben admitted. "It has to do with a new character introduced with the intention of being better than all of the previous characters."

"So? A new character can't be better than the older ones?"

"They can," Ben allowed, "as long as the older characters don't take a sudden nosedive in intelligence or competence. With a Mary Sue, everyone's less competent in order to make the new character look good."

She took another sip of coffee. "And you think that the older characters are being somehow…diminished?"

Ben started counting on his fingers. "Luke Skywalker is a cowardly hermit after trying to kill his nephew. Princess Leia—"

"—General Organa," she corrected him.

Ben paused. "Right. General Organa is leading a ragtag resistance when the new government she helped found stops listening to her. Oh, and when she puts out a distress call, nobody answers, but they do when Lando Calrissian does."

Raye winced. "Yeah, that does sound like she's lost some pull," she admitted. "What about Han Solo?"

Ben rolled his eyes. "So, Han Solo is now a deadbeat Dad who went back to smuggling? Oh, and he gets killed by his own son who happens to have my name." He frowned. "Are you trying to tell me something? Because, you know, I get along just great with my parents."

"The same parents who gave you a replica slave bikini for me to wear?" she teased. "I have no idea how your mother got my measurements."

"That was a gag gift," he protested. "And as for your measurements…I plead the fifth," he muttered.

"So…you think it's a terrible story?"

He put down the papers. "Look, I've never stopped you from doing anything. You can do whatever you want with this, but I'd be careful publishing it." He shivered dramatically. "You know how the Star Wars fandom can get. They'll say that it's a bad mashup of Star Wars and Twilight."

"You're a lot nicer than Edward," Raye reassured him. "And despite the resemblance, you're a better man than Ben Solo ever was."

"Thanks. I'll take care of the dishes. You've got to catch your bus."

"Ben?" she asked as he gathered the dishes. "Thanks for listening."

He shrugged. "Hey, I love you. Listening is part of the package, you know?"

She smiled. Some rough spots aside, she was lucky to have found him.

"I think...I'll put this off to the side," she decided. "Besides, it's not like this is going to be a real trilogy."

* * *

Raye and Ben walked out of the theater. There had been no applause, no cheers when the movie had ended. There were some grunts of dissatisfaction and a few noncommittal shrugs.

"Well, you called it," Ben said, trying to cheer her up. "It was tough waiting 6 years to see if you were right, but wasn't that bad."

"It wasn't that great, either," she returned. "It was flashy and had lots of nostalgia, but..." She shook her head. "`Rey Skywalker' just sounded so much better when I dreamt it."

"It's not like you can sue them for using your dream," he pointed out. "Kind of hard to win that battle."

She nodded. "So, what now?"

"We move on. That's life, you know."

She paused and looked back at the theater. For a long moment, she considered possibilities and might-have-beens. A long time ago, a scavenger named Rey had her adventure. In the here and now, Raye was having hers.

She knew who was better off in the end. Raye's life was less adventurous, but satisfying.

"Yeah, we move on," she agreed. "Come on, let's hurry before we have to pay the sitter overtime."

She took Ben's arm as they walked to the car. This was where she belonged.

The End


End file.
